“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”  ~ Dr Seuss

 “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you —that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ~ Jesus [Luke 24:44 HCSB]

Focal Passage: Psalm 22 – The Suffering
For the choir director: according to “The Deer of the Dawn.” A Davidic psalm.

¹ My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from my deliverance and from my words of groaning? ² My God, I cry by day, but You do not answer, by night, yet I have no rest. ³ But You are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. ⁴ Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted, and You rescued them. ⁵ They cried to You and were set free; they trusted in You and were not disgraced. 

⁶ But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by people. ⁷ Everyone who sees me mocks me; they sneer and shake their heads: ⁸ “He relies on the Lord; let Him rescue him; let the Lord deliver him, since He takes pleasure in him.” 

 ⁹ You took me from the womb, making me secure while at my mother’s breast. ¹⁰ I was given over to You at birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb. 

 ¹¹ Do not be far from me, because distress is near and there is no one to help. 

 ¹² Many bulls surround me; strong ones of Bashan encircle me. ¹³ They open their mouths against me— lions, mauling and roaring. ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me. ¹⁵ My strength is dried up like baked clay; my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You put me into the dust of death. ¹⁶ For dogs have surrounded me; a gang of evildoers has closed in on me; they pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷ I can count all my bones; people look and stare at me. ¹⁸ They divided my garments among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. 

 ¹⁹ But You, Lord, don’t be far away. My strength, come quickly to help me. ²⁰ Deliver my life from the sword, my only life from the power of these dogs. ²¹ Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen. [Psalm 22:1-21 HCSB]

 The Shepherd Psalms
These three familiar and beloved psalms present Christ as the Shepherd, each one emphasizing a different aspect of His Person and His work. Psalm 22 pictures the Good Shepherd dying for the sheep; Psalm 23 the Great Shepherd caring for the sheep; and Psalm 24 the Chief Shepherd coming for the sheep. In other words, Christ died for us (past), Christ lives for us (present), and Christ will come for us (future). [Wiersbe's Expository Outlines]

What aspects of Christ as a Shepherd connect with you? Continue Reading…

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”  ~ Dr Seuss

“These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you —that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ~ Jesus [Luke 24:44 HCSB]

Focal Passage: The Gospel  Foretold by Isaiah [Isaiah 53:1-12 HCSB] 

  ¹ Who has believed what we have heard? And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to? ² He grew up before Him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form or majesty that we should look at Him, no appearance that we should desire Him. ³ He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.

  ⁴ Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. ⁶ We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.  

⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, He did not open His mouth. ⁸ He was taken away because of oppression and judgment; and who considered His fate? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was struck because of my people’s rebellion. ⁹ They made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man at His death, although He had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.  

¹⁰ Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely. When You make Him a restitution offering, He will see His seed, He will prolong His days, and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished. ¹¹ He will see it out of His anguish, and He will be satisfied with His knowledge. My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will carry their iniquities. ¹² Therefore I will give Him the many as a portion, and He will receive the mighty as spoil, because He submitted Himself to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.

When you picture Jesus in your mind’s eye, what does He look like?

What are some of the other ways we assume Jesus is more like us than he really is?

Continue Reading…

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”  ~ Dr Seuss

 “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you —that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ~ Jesus [Luke 24:44 HCSB]

Focal Passage:

 ³¹ “Look, the days are coming ”—this is the Lord’s declaration —“when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. ³² This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt —a covenant they broke even though I had married them”—the Lord’s declaration. ³³ “Instead, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days ”—the Lord’s declaration. “I will put My teaching within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. ³⁴ No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “For I will forgive their wrongdoing and never again remember their sin.” [Jeremiah 31:31-34 HCSB]

Have you ever thought of God as a divorcee? (verse 32) Continue Reading…

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”  ~ Dr Seuss

“These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you —that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ~ Jesus [Luke 24:44 HCSB]

Focal Passage:

The Immanuel Prophecy

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: ¹¹ “Ask for a sign from the Lord your God —from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.” ¹² But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.” ¹³ Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God? ¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel. ¹⁵ By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating butter and honey.¹⁶ For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. ¹⁷ The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah —the king of Assyria is coming.” [Isaiah 7:10-17 HCSB]

 Have you ever asked God for a sign? Continue Reading…

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”  ~ Dr Seuss

 “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you —that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ~ Jesus [Luke 24:44 HCSB]

Please read all of Genesis Chapter 3

Focal Passage:
¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. [Genesis 3:14-15 HCSB]

The first prophesy is perfectly placed in a passage of God’s Word in which most people, regardless of their spiritual journey, are at least generally familiar. The historical account contains all the elements necessary for an epic documentary; temptation, condemnation, and salvation. Continue Reading…